But the billions in subsidies and the strong-arm tactics are backfiring. They've provided rhetorical weapons for the likes the newly elected Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Bernie Sanders (who has already found political glory in using Amazon as a stand-in for everything wrong with late-stage American capitalism).

New Yorkers rallied in the streets to object to the giveaway and to voice their concern that Amazon's new HQ2 will displace working families and local businesses, raising rents and creating jobs that will go to newcomers who will be able to outbid locals on rents.

It's not just the left who object, either: Koch-affiliated think-tanks publicly denounced the move as "wasteful corporate welfare" that was detrimental to the "public good."

LeRoy says Amazon has indeed inadvertently highlighted public subsidies, which corporations have been able to negotiate largely in the dark. “I think Amazon is not winning a lot of love from corporate America for that,” he says. Deals between governments and other tech companies—and the secrecy surrounding them—are receiving scrutiny, too. Two nonprofits are suing San Jose, California, over a $67 million deal to sell government land to Google for new office space. The organizations argue city officials illegally signed nondisclosure agreements with the tech giant.

Last August, Florida's prison system announced that it was switching digital music providers and would be wiping out the $11.2 million worth of music that it had sold inmates -- music they'd paid for at $1.70/track, nearly double the going rate for music when not purchased from prison-system profiteers.

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